Recently, my family and I did a week-long stay-cation. I have been saying for the longest time that I wanted to take some time to be a tourist in our city. This was the perfect opportunity. It has never been more clear that we take so many things for granted. Living in Los Angeles sometimes means you forget how cool living in Los Angeles really is. It’s easy to forget that people come here for vacation for a reason.

We started our week at the Downtown Disney district. It’s an outdoor shopping center just outside of the gates of Disney Land. Our son loves going there because he’s all about anything related to Disney. We hadn’t decided yet if we were actually going to try and make Disney Land that week so we figured we’d do Downtown Disney to give him a little Disney experience in case we decided against hitting up the actual amusement park.

The next day we spent some time in Redondo Beach. There is an attraction called Fun Factory there and I’d never been inside for some reason. It was so much fun! There were rides and games. It’s pretty much an indoor carnival. My favorite ride, the Tilt-A-Whirl, took me back to my childhood! I took my son along for the ride.

My little man even won a little something while there…

While walking along the pier there were plenty of things to stop and see. My son’s favorite… the crabs!

After leaving the Fun Factory we walked around and checked out glass bottom boats and paddle boats. There was also a gondola for rent. I let my husband know that we would be checking that out for a date night! After spending the day there, we decided to play it by ear for the rest of the week. While the time in Redondo was fun, we also kept it simple with a trip to Krispy Kreme so the kids could see how donuts were made. My son was a fan and kind of fascinated by the whole process. At the end of it, they give you a free donut. Win-win!

We also spent some time in Santa Monica. I always see the amusement park on Santa Monica Pier in movies and as I drive by but I’d never been there. This week, I figured why not? I’m glad I did. We had a great time. It was almost like we had started this whole amusement park theme. My son rode his first real park ride by himself. His sister cheered him on.

She looks amused, right? While on the pier, we saw Mickey and Minnie. It was weird. They wanted you to pay to take a picture with them. We passed on that. My son thought they were suspect, anyway! It’s as if he knew that we’d decided that Disney Land was definitely a must-do and he was gonna wait for the real thing!

The next day, we got up and hit the road to Anaheim! We didn’t tell the little guy where we were going. Once we got there and he started seeing Mickey everywhere, he said (in the cutest happy voice ever) “Are we at Disney Land?” That joy on his face was priceless. The tickets to get into Disney, were not. Ahem…

And then he saw Mufasa… If you don’t know why this is the biggest deal EVER, see this post!This face alone, was probably worth the price of admission! Pure Disney magic!

After the excitement that is Disney, nothing could top that. We decided to make it a beach day to end the week. We hung out at the super popular Venice Beach and had lunch. That was the perfect end to a fabulous week.

Me likey the stay-cation. That is all. Have you ever done a stay-cation?

What a great week! We haven’t done the staycation yet, but I’m pretty sure an Indianapolis staycation would not be as fun…LOL Our 4 year old is starting to ask about going to Disney so hopefully in the next year or two we can get him there 🙂

I love it. We all should proabably take advantage of the cool things in the city we live in. YOu and your daughter look alike in the picture where you two have ponytails! And I love your curls in the picture that you are letting it all hang out.

Let’s hear it for stay-cations! I can’t believe (I really can) that Minnie & Micky tried to make a come up off pics with the kids. Goodness. I love the pics. The kids looked like they enjoyed themselves. I vow to do a stay-cation one of these days.

My whole summer has been a bit of a stay-cation – money is tight so we’re doing a lot of day trips. All under two hours. I’ve been having a blast, I have to say. So much to discover right here in my town and the surrounding areas. We are in western MA but we’re an easy drive to NH, VT, NY and CT. So much to explore!

Isn’t it fun to be a tourist in your hometown? We sometimes take for granted everything that’s right near us. Our staycations have often times been more fun than actual vacations! I love LA, we’d love to go back with the kids sometime. Looks like you had a blast!

My husband and I just did a stay-cation last weekend for 24 hours (2ish days and one night)… my parents took our kids and we just enjoyed the piece and quite of our home together. I got a little work done, we sat outside all evening and then watched Netflix without interruption after dinner. We got up early the next morning and went on a BIG walk and enjoyed lazily getting ready and a quiet lunch without our 3 young kids. One of the best, stress-less “get-aways” we’ve had in a while 🙂

Sometimes the best fun you can have is right in your own city. I’ve definitely been thinking about planning a stay-cation for my family. The kids haven’t really explored the city since we’ve been back and I’d love to take them to all the fun places and cool restaurants we have.

What a fab stay-cation! I’ve only been to LA 2x (both for work), but my sister just got back from almost 2 weeks of vacation in LA and it sounded amazing. I want to make it there with my husband someday especially because he’s never been. This post is such great inspiration!